Album Reviews : Alice Through The Windshield Glass – Keep Your Eyes On The Road

If the band name, the spastic logo, the artwork complete with decomposing female face and the pun-tastic titles don’t give you at least a hint as to what general sound is here, there’s something wrong. Sydney’s Alice Through The Windshield Glass appear to be as deathcore as they come, and for the most part that’s true. The basis of this 18 minute EP will be familiar; mosh-friendly riffs, deep growls, powerful yet relatively simple drums, and bass-explosions leading into the all-too-familiar breakdown segments. The production is big and full of balls, and the vocalist has some serious grunt, hovering somewhere in-between brutal death roars and the less-extreme ‘modern metal’ style. Honestly, diehard deathcore fans might as well stop reading and just go buy this, because it’s hard to fault as far as the genre goes.

But for those of you who, like myself, only really venture into the variety of modern –core genres when there’s that something special or interesting thrown into the mix, keep an eye on this band. ‘Keep Your Eyes On The Road’ certainly isn’t a genre-defying album or anything extra special, but there are hints to a more interesting and less generic (to put it bluntly) band. As with many modern metal bands, there are technical death metal bits here and there, so it’s clear the band can play their instruments. But what stood out to me, were the melody-driven moments. Finale “Tribute To Domestic Blindness (Part I)” features a spectacular middle and end section which blows the rest of the album away. It breaks away after the 2 minute mark into some gorgeous clean guitars, before a massive growl leads back into a what is almost a wall-of-sound, almost reaching the intensity more commonly found in the sludgier, more layered end of metal. They pull it off spectacularly. More of that please guys.

Another thing the band clearly have a knack for is the use of audio clips. There are few better song openings than Bruce Willis calling you a fuckhead, and “Tetris Chainsaw Massacre” features exactly the sound effect you’d expect. Interlude “Lacunar Amnesia” is a haunting one for sure, with a mesmerizing and somewhat depressing combination of pseudo-classical instruments, a dark, clean guitar and a desperate sounding speech from one of the greatest villains to ever hit the big screen; Heath Ledger’s Joker. The audio clips are blending in perfectly, never just being tacked on for the sake of having one.

So while a large chunk of this release may be solid but unsurprising deathcore, there are certainly hints at something greater. It all comes down to whether the band want to take a risk and broaden their horizons, or are happy continuing with a sound that they have no trouble pulling off. 6/10

Mitch Booth is the owner, designer and grand overlord of Metal Obsession. In the few seconds of spare time he has outside of this site, he also hosts a metal radio show over on PBS 106.7fm in Melbourne (Australia) and organises shows under the name Untitled Touring. You should follow him on Twitter.